Sugar the Shetland Pony

The other day we were looking for a park in the area. We had relatives with two kids visiting from Germany. We had just picked up one of their friends from the train station in Chatsworth. Where to go?

I knew of a few parks in the West Hills area. To get there, we drove west on Roscoe Blvd. and needed to turn south on Woodlake Ave. I remembered a shortcut to Woodlake Ave. Just before going up the hill on Roscoe, one can take a left turn (south) on Jonathan St. Not a big shortcut but the memories came flooding back.

When we were growing up, that hill was four blocks from our house. The hill had a long driveway that paralleled Jonathan St., which led to a house. The hill was home to Sugar the Shetland Pony and other animals. During my elementary school days, there were many times I’d either walk or ride my bike to visit the pony. On Sundays, I would nab a few sugar cubes from the church coffee hour, or a carrot, or an apple from the fridge to feed Sugar.

My eighth grade year in junior high, that hill (the intersection of Woodlake Ave. and Jonathan St.) is where my friend and I were pulled over on our bicycles, on our way to school, by a police officer. We had apparently rolled through the stop. Unbeknownst to us then, we had come to a California Rolling Stop. We got tickets. I rode on to school but my friend when back home.

The same intersection was the place where, I eventually learned, a boy I had a crush on in ninth grade, lived. Later, after high school, I recall driving my red VW squareback and stopping at that intersection on my way to a performance at the church. I had curlers in my hair and that same boy was out on the sidewalk. I wanted to die!

Looking back, there were many “I wanted to die” moments. Every time I saw that boy from the intersection, I wanted to die. He was in one of my ninth grade classes at Columbus Junior High. I think we spoke five sentences to each other on five separate occasions over a five year span. Yes, every time I spoke to him, I wanted to die. It was the crush I will remember from my youth.

The shortcut to Woodlake Ave. has gone through big changes over the years. Most recently the house on the hill has been removed and replaced with a huge fancy retirement home. The road that curves around the hill has been straightened a bit, perhaps to prevent a blind curve. I wonder how many others remember that shortcut from years gone by.